


One Night

by CsillaDream



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Fluff, Ice, M/M, Snow, and neither are you, be my boyfriend for one christmas party, help me prove to my ex that I'm over him even though I'm not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 00:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6681784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CsillaDream/pseuds/CsillaDream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night is all it takes to get to know someone and completely forget another... AU / eventual LAVEN (past: Lucky & Yullen)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Csilla: this fic was originally started and put on hiatus back in the beginning of 2014, but lately I've been able to wrap it up so enjoy some Laven fluff~ :)

"It's over, Allen…" That smooth familiar voice echoed in the empty hallways of their high school and even now almost a year later, it was still there in Allen's head. Followed by the memory of the retreating back of the raven he had fallen in love with and dated for a couple of years.

Months after their break-up, the young Brit moved away, all thanks to his guardian, Marian Cross who couldn't stay in one place. Damn debt collectors. Regardless, a year later Allen found himself walking the streets of a place he used to call _home_ \- mentally noting how nothing seemed to have changed since he was last here. And if he wasn't mistaken: his old high school was nearby. Glancing around silver eyes caught sight of the street leading to it and against his mind's better judgment, he walked down it. He was nearing the building just as students started piling out from the gates. Allen turned his head down slightly out of fear of possibly being recognized before mentally scolding himself, he only really wanted one person _not_ to recognize him.

After his self berating, mercury eyes finally glanced up just in time to see _him_ walking out of the gate. Yu Kanda. Walking with another person. A boy with a wide grin and only because him and Kanda had been together for so long that the Brit could even see the smallest twitch of a smile on his ex-boyfriend's face. Allen swallowed back all the building anxiety inside him before he felt himself pulled away from the sight of the two. He stumbled amidst the quick pace, his eyes never leaving the two boys until they were mere blur in the crowd of students. At that point, Allen's brain finally processed that someone was _literally_ leading him away. Mercury orbs glanced over to see bright red, sticking out of a black and green headband that barely hid the black eye patch over the owner's right eye. Settling for letting himself be lead away, he could feel the tears well up at the burned image of the wide smile on, who he could only guess as, Kanda's new boyfriend's face and the micro-smile on his ex's face. Of course Kanda had moved on, why wouldn't he?

And due to his whole reason for visiting this town in the first place, he couldn't very well hop on the next train out of here. Neah Walker, his only living relative was still living in this town and the young Brit was eager to see him again, but he wasn't going to be home until tomorrow morning. And Allen certainly didn't want to stay in his uncle's house alone.

A pained smile slowly spread on his face, "Even after all this time, I can't stop," his voice breaking as he forced himself to continue, "can't s-stop ho-hoping..."

The stranger slowed them both to a stop and before Allen could finish, he found himself staring at his green-eyed savior (well, that last part could be argued), who had turned around asking: "You're Allen, aren't ya?"

"Huh?" Mercury eyes stared in disbelief as he searched his memory for this redhead but after drawing a blank, he opted for simply staring.

As if sensing his companion's obvious confusion, the redhead laughed: "I saw a bunch of photos of you at Lena's house..."

"Lena? Wait, Lenalee?" The white-haired vividly recalled the memories of his best friend, who had done pretty much everything possible to help Allen get over Kanda. Sadly it only worked when he wasn't around the Japanese teen.

"Well, try not to space out next time... You'll catch a cold in this cold weather," The redhead left with a short salute of his fingers, leaving Allen alone again to his thoughts. At least until something cold and wet landed on his nose, he remembered it was lightly snowing and decided he might as well head back to the hotel room he had booked for himself. He really didn't want to be alone in his uncle's house.

* * *

He ignored the strange looks he received as he walked through the lobby, after all he was a kid with ghostly-white hair (that wasn't dyed) and a scar that marred most of the left side of his face. He stuffed his face into his coat as he finished his trek, finally reaching the only opened elevator that would quickly get him to his room. Allen glanced up only to lock gazes with his one and only ex-boyfriend, who seemed to be on his way onto the very elevator he was currently in.

"Moy-Allen...?" The Japanese teen still looked the same as the white-haired teen remembered: same long raven hair tied back like a samurai, same unreadable expression. Everything. Mercury pools tore themselves away as he softly chanted "please close... please, dear god, close," repeatedly until a slightly louder click announced the doors had done just as he hoped.

Allen let out a sigh of relief for dodging that awkward bullet, though he numbly wondered why Kanda was in the hotel lobby anyway. If the young Brit recalled correctly, his house was in _opposite_ direction, which was part of the reason Allen had paid the extra money.

"You sure its okay to leave him hanging like that?" A voice spoke up within the small space causing Allen to jump a little and turn to see the redhead from before cocking his head towards the door, "He seemed a little surprised to see you, after all..."

Turning away, "It's f-fine... we used to date," he replied as monotone as he could, if it weren't for the slight stutter in his voice: he might have actually succeeded.

"Ah... ex-boyfriends suck, especially the ones that dump you," The redhead muttered as he relaxed against the metal walls of the elevator, mercury eyes found themselves drawn over as feelings of empathy washed over him.

"Guess you were dumped recently," He kept his voice soft, Allen was sure his voice would betray him again. Allen was sure it was obvious that he was in a similar boat as the recently-dumped redhead.

The redhead shifted his weight a little, "Sure, if you call ' _recently_ ' being dumped six months ago... then yeah," - Or the same boat!

"Pretty much a year for me..."

"Still not over him, huh?"

"Thought I was,"

"Same,"

Glancing down at his feet, there was one question he had in regard to the redhead's earlier actions, Allen felt complied to ask: "Why did you pull me away from the school earlier?"

The redhead seemed hesitant to respond but after clearing his throat, he answered his question with his one own: "Was it bad to pull you away?"

Allen shook his head slowly, oddly he had felt slight relief when the red-haired stranger tore him away from the sight of Kanda and his new boyfriend. A noise to his right directed his attention right back to the redhead, who cleared his throat before adding with hesitation: "T-To answer your question, I kind of used you since my ex-boyfriend was also leaving around the same time as yours and he's really been harassing me about not being over him... And when I saw that look," green meeting pools of mercury, "that look in your eye, I was glad you went along with my actions... sorry," He spoke the last word with a small chuckle in his voice.

"So you grabbed me to prove to your ex that you were over him even though you're not," The numbers continued to slowly increase with each floor they passed. In a few floors, Allen would need to get off...

Scratching the back of his head, the redhead replied: "Yeah, again, I'm sorry for just grabbing you like I did"

The young Brit shook his head in response, muttering, "You did me a favor, actually. It looks like my ex has gotten himself a new boyfriend," with a pained smile.

"So, would you mind if I pulled you away for a second time today?" The redhead asked as the doors opened and he moved to stand in the entrance before glancing back, green meeting mercury once more.

Crossing his arms across his chest, Allen didn't want to admit it, but the thought of being dragged along somewhere with the redhead was somehow comforting and forced warmth to erupt in his chest.

"Why?"

"Well about a week ago, my ex called me out on my bluff saying if I was really over him that I should invite my new boyfriend to the Christmas party my classmates' are having. Please, it'll just be a bunch of classmates and we don't even need to stay long," The redhead turned to face Allen, putting his hands together, in what could best be explained as a prayer.

"Will Kanda be there?" Shifting uncomfortably, Allen did his best not to met those green eyes before him but did catch the slight nod before its source sighed, "Yeah, your ex-boyfriend will be there along with Alma, his new boyfriend"

His head almost spun off as the young Brit's gaze shot up to met the eyes he was previous avoiding, "H-How d-did y-you k-know?"

"Lena's photos... That's how I knew your name was Allen,"

"Then what's yours? I mean, if you're asking me to _pretend_ to be your boyfriend, I should know your name, at the very least..."

Grinning, "Its Lavi,"

His arms dropped for a moment before raising to rest on his hips, "I can't believe I'm doing this," Allen groaned as he continued on: "but what time?"

Any other time, the young Brit would have declined politely but something about today -about Lavi- silenced that part of him.

The redhead stepped away from the entrance and into the hall outside the elevator, "I'll pick you up at seven in the lobby~" he grinned and before Allen could respond, the elevator doors closed.

Allen pressed the button for his floor, the elevator shifted slightly and a few moments later, the doors opened back up two floor later. Allen still couldn't believe he had _actually_ agreed to something like that. Agreed to go along with a stranger. A stranger who only knew him based off photos he had seen that were all over a year old. Despite half of him crying out in utter surprise, the other half was warm as a thought played its part of Allen's mind: _Maybe it was a good thing I came early..._


	2. Chapter 2

As seven o'clock rolled around, Allen shook his head for, what seemed like, the umpteenth time in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was going out to a place where his ex-boyfriend would be with his new boyfriend. And to top it off, he was _pretending_ to be Lavi's boyfriend. Someone he barely knew! Maybe he didn't think this through, he would be seeing his old classmates under the guise of a white lie.

"What is wrong with me?" Allen sighed as he stepped onto the elevator, it wouldn't take very long for the metal cage to reach the lobby and even as it came to a stop on its way down, Allen knew he'd still be there with time to spare. What he didn't know was why the newest addition in the cage hadn't said anything to him. Lavi stood, adorning no headband, with his hair falling haphazardly in different directions, wearing an orange scarf around his neck, and a white jacket that hung slightly past his hip contrasting against the black jeans and boots he wore. For a moment, Allen wondered if maybe he should have wore something more casual, he deemed a light blue jacket over top a white button-up shirt and jeans worthy of their fake relationship. He shrugged the thought away, it wasn't like this was real so it didn't matter. Right?

Glancing over, "So where's this Christmas party taking place?" his voice was softer than he expected it to be but now that it was out, there was no way to take his question back.

No response until the elevator came to a stop at the bottom. The lobby, where he watched as Lavi stepped out and dramatically swung on the balls of his feet before greeting Allen: "Allen, what took you so long? You won't believe all the stares I was getting,"

One silver eyebrow twitched in disbelief as his mouth moved using as much sarcasm as he could muster, at the moment, in his response: "Well, would you believe me if I said I was stuck in an elevator with some quiet creep?"

Despite the slight edge in his voice, the redhead merely laughed it off before motioning for Allen to follow. Out in the cold weather, they began their trek with only small talk to keep their minds away from the inevitable: "Sucks it hasn't snowed yet, huh?" Lavi began as he stared out among the small flurries while keeping the pace with his companion.

"What are you talking about? Its snowing right now," Allen groaned, was he seriously going through with this? Surely their act was going to get seen through!

Opening his hand out in front of him, catching a few flakes, Lavi chuckled: "But its not _really really_ snowing... only small particles of frozen water..."

Rolling his mercury eyes, "That's what snow is, idiot..."

"...idiot rabbit..." Lavi breathed out causing the other to look over in curiosity before the redhead explained: "Its what those close to me... my friends call me when they want to call me an idiot. Just to make this act go over a little smoother," He quickly added the last part in a low voice.

A hum of recognition as Allen spoke: "Idiot rabbit, huh" before glancing over and chuckling, "It fits! And since we're on the terms of nicknames I should mention one that all the guys referred to me as," pausing for a moment then finally breathing out: "...beansprout," Allen's head immediately dropped as the awful nickname escaped his lips, why was he trying again?

So Lavi could proof to his ex-boyfriend that he was over him? What about him? Could he go along with the act to say that he was over Kanda, even though he wasn't and probably will never be.

Their trek lasted ten minutes and throughout the whole journey, they talked about themselves, mostly about things the other should know so that there were no slip-ups. Or at least not as many. Allen learned that the redhead was a bit of a bookworm but was still very much loved by his peers -minus those closely affiliated with his ex. He also learned that he moved here just under a year ago (surprisingly shortly after Allen moved away) and was staying at the same hotel that Allen was because of his gramp's work. He learned that Lavi was a bit of a prankster. And most importantly -this was all the redhead's opinion, it actually made Allen roll his eyes as a small chuckle escaped his lips- his favorite color was orange. Somehow the Brit didn't seem to understand how that held so much importance, but he humored his fellow heartbroken companion in agreeing with obvious sarcasm that it was _very_ important.

Right as they were nearing the place -a karaoke place that Allen didn't remember ever being there when he lived here- a question popped into his mind: "So when should we say we started dating?"

"Good question... I got dumped six months ago," rubbing his chin in thought, "how about three months ago? I started stating I had a boyfriend about around that time," Lavi smiled over at his companion for confirmation, who nodded briskly before opening the door.

* * *

Inside was bursting with life, mercury eyes caught sight of a few familiar faces: Kanda, Kanda's boyfriend, Lenalee, Miranda, Krory, and Johnny. Movement to his side brought his attention over to the redhead, who whispered with a small smile: "Good luck to both of us," before reaching down to squeezing his hand gently. An odd gesture considering-

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around the young Brit's body and the smell of plums attacked his nose, no doubt in the white-haired teen's mind as he immediately knew who was the culprit. Lenalee.

"Hey Lenalady~" The redhead only furthered proved how right he was.

"Ah, Allen! Its been _waaay_ too long," She pulled arms-length away before smiling again, "and look at you, you've changed,"

Allen's features deadpanned as he spoke, "Was _that_ a _short_ joke?"

The Chinese girl merely giggled as she turned her attention over to the redhead, "So how do you two know one another?"

"We're dating," Mercury eyes widened in utter surprise, how had Lavi made that sound _so_ easy and natural? Didn't he know that Lenalee was the type to see through all sorts of lies?! And if she did find out about their act, she would surely lecture them on how stupid it was _and_ ask him about any relationships he might have had during the year since he last saw her. Both of which would end badly...

Violet eyes wandered repeatedly between the outwardly confident green gaze and a timid pair of mercury ones before glancing down to catch sight of their intertwined hands, "Since when?" her undertone asked more questions than the young Brit wanted to give answers for.

Luckily she was called away by someone across the room before either of them had to answer her question, Allen hadn't bothered to look to see who it was but when Lavi hummed, "Daisya... I owe ya," in relief, the teen matched a face to the name.

Daisya Berry had actually been the one to start calling Allen a beansprout and sadly it caught on, nearly everyone used that nickname so much so that the young Brit had opted for getting into fights with anyone who called him 'beansprout' that he didn't consider as his friend. Daisya had also been the first to stop calling him it when he had begun to lash out and even had gone so far to apologize but as Daisya commented 'the damage was done'. Kanda had even-

"Oh, no matter what... avoid being near my ex alone... he," lifting a finger, Lavi pointed across the room, "has a habit of wanting to see me suffer,"

The moment mercury eyes captured his tanned Portuguese former classmate, he muttered in disgust: "How can you still love him?" as he mentally noted that Tyki hadn't changed since the last time Allen saw him. Still holding that damn arrogant air around him. At least he had been able to knock the guy off his high horse a few times -all thanks to being a far too good at poker, the only thing he was thankful that his guardian, Cross had taught him.

"Look who's talking," Lavi playfully retorted as he glanced behind his shoulder at the sullen Japanese teen, he couldn't really understand how Alma could still be as cheerful as he was dating such a gloomy guy. And after learning a few months after he befriended Lenalee, he had admittedly been shocked to learn that Kanda already had an ex, who still managed to genuinely smile while dating him. Reading people had always been his specialty, thanks to his panda of a gramps.

"Touche" Allen laughed, amazed how things just flowed between them as they spoke more about themselves -minus the topic of their ex-boyfriends. It felt natural for them to make small playful jabs at one another and their flaws.

"Hey I'm gonna go grab something from the vending machine, do you want anything?"

His red-haired companion offered as he motioned towards the hall on the other side of the room. Allen's eyes followed before chuckling, "I guess any kind of tea they have would be nice,"

With one short nod and an even shorter 'be right back', Lavi weaved his way through the crowd of students leaving the young Brit to his thoughts. Not that _that_ lasted long, Allen could feel a pair of eyes on him and his instincts told him they were drawing closer to him. Cautioning a glance to his left he saw a brunet teen dragging an irritated Kanda behind him, he immediately recognized the brunette as his ex's new boyfriend. Upon closer inspection, the brunet appeared to younger than him by a year, at the very least. His hair looked like he had gotten into a fight with a pair of scissors, the locks of brown stuck out in all directions. More haphazardly than Lavi's. Unlike Lavi's, it looked like it could actually accidentally poke someone in the eye if they got too close.

Once he was close enough, the brunet immediately greeted the guarded Brit: "Hi there, I'm Alma!"

"Moyashi," Kanda greeted, earning himself a well-rehearsed (if not irritated) response.

"It's Allen..."

Alma seemed unfazed by the short exchange as he went on to ask: "So do you go to our school? A senior? Or maybe a junior? I'm just a freshman so I don't really know who goes to our school yet. Oh, I know! Are Tyki's newest toy? Though considering he was with Lavi... you don't really seem like his type. Oh! Speaking of Lavi... are you the guy Lavi swears up and down that he's dating? _Well-_ OWW!" A fist had connected with the top of the brunet's head, successfully silencing Alma.

Before he could continue on, Kanda growled: "One question at a time, dumbass"

" _Buuuuut_ I couldn't help myself, Yuu" On instinct Allen tensed up upon hearing his ex's first name, he knew how much Kanda hated being called by his first name. Despite the dark aura that surrounded the Japanese teen, Alma didn't seem fazed. For a brief moment, the young Brit wondered if there was something mentally wrong with the other before wide brown eyes turned to him pleading for answers.

Scratching his cheek absently, he tried to recall half of the questions: "First," holding up a finger, "I used to go to your school. Second," he proceeded to count down on his fingers, "please don't _ever_ think I'd want anything to do with that pompous asshole, Tyki... I mean what kind of idiot would date..." his mouth paused in its outburst of words as he remembered why he was here: "What kind of idiot lets go of someone like Lavi... He's such an amazing guy,"

Flashing his award-winning poker smile, he knew he had saved himself from ruining their act and Alma was proof of that: "Wow! So you are dating Lavi?"

"Y-yeah,"

Allen had hoped that the nosy underclassman would leave but sadly it seemed Alma still had a whole mountain of questions for him: "So how long have you two been dating?"

If Allen wanted to allow his honest side to take over, he would have replied with a 'not long... a couple hours ago, we were stranger' but instead replied with a chuckle, "You know how things are, one moment you're strangers on the street and the next you're dating,"

Alma again didn't seemed fazed and went on to state how happy he was that Lavi found someone new, which struck a cord inside the young Brit. Guilt ate away at him as his eyes wandered up to his silent ex-boyfriend. Would he ever be able to truly get over him? And where the hell was Lavi with his tea?!

Across the room, Lavi held two slender cans: one with tea and other containing mango juice. Scanning the place, he found a sight that turned his stomach upside down: standing less than arms-length apart was Kanda and Allen -Alma could barely been seen beyond the masses of various mobs of hair. They looked… _awkward?_

A familiar cocky chuckle perked pale ears to the source: Tyki, his ex-boyfriend, flirting with a short blond underclassman. _Lucky bastard_ _, his mind quickly quipped._ Lavi pouted as he stood alone before finally coming to his senses, shaking his head he made his through the crowd passing Alma on the way. There was no way he was going to let his own insecurities stop him from having his ex-boyfriend believe he was finally over him. Even if it was a complete lie.

"Allen!" Two pairs of eyes drifted over towards him: one holding relief and the other obvious irritation. Allen held out his hand expectantly causing a small tug on the redhead's mouth as he handed over the can with a chuckle: "Here's your tea, sprout~"

"Tch," And with that the irritated Japanese teen was gone, likely to find his boyfriend, who had left him alone with them.

* * *

"Alright! Party's startin'!" A loud boisterous voice rang out above the entire crowd of students. The moment mercury eyes caught sight of the rowdy violet hair that could only belong to one person alone, his instincts kicked in.

And Allen hid.

Right behind Lavi, who responded with hushed confusion: "Wha-at are you do-doing?"

Burying his face into the redhead's back, it was obvious that the young Brit wasn't going to give up the answer immediately: "C'mon... _Allen_..." He coaxed, glancing behind him at the cowering teen.

"...don't want... whore... out..." Of the muffled sounds erupting across his back that was all Lavi caught, turning around so Allen was now in his arms, he asked trying not to let his laugh take over his words: "What was that?"

With the teen in his arms, he could see the pure dread and fear reflecting in those mercury orbs as the young Brit repeated: "I don't want her to whore me out to any guy she sees," slowly

Before the redhead could provide comfort, the girl spoke again: "Ah~ Tyki!" closer this time, but this time it was Lavi, who froze up and as quick as a bunny he hid.

Behind Allen.

With their roles reversed, the young Brit tried to switch them back but with no luck, the rabbit would **not** budge! Despite his best efforts, Lavi replied the same way: "Dude! No way!"

"Why not?!" Allen bit back, hoping the girl would not catch sight of him in the meantime.

Pulling Allen down so both of them were fairly well-hidden behind the students around them: "I'm her uncle's ex-boyfriend... like _hell_ I wanna be harassed by _that damn_ freshman kid," he held the smaller teen's shoulders, hoping his companion would understand his dilemma.

"At least being harassed is better than whore'd out to every single guy, straight or not, in this place, idiot rabbit!" Allen grabbed the cheeks in front of him and pulled hard, it wasn't long before both of them were yanking at the other's cheeks, trying to win their argument.

"Bweanspwout"

"Idiot wabbit,"

The insults (for lack of better word) flew between them until a coy cough drove their attention over to its source: Tyki Mikki stood, slightly amused, which Allen knew could only mean trouble. The Portuguese teen spoke, earning the attention of everyone: "Now don't mind us~ but don't you think your lover's spat," both hands flew away from the other's cheeks as more eyes wandered over while Tyki continued: "isn't _appropriate_ for the public?" tanned hands stretched out gathering more of a crowd.

Lavi glanced down, avoiding eye contact with his ex-boyfriend and that's when he saw it: Allen's hand reaching over and grasping his. Relief flood his system at the contact, he wasn't alone in situation. How could he forget? They were in this together. The young Brit had gone along with his crazy scheme without any complaint so maybe the redhead could try and act a little more confidently.

It was then that the redhead realized he had actually tuned out his ex-boyfriend: "And lastly, I'm sure everyone here remembers _Allen Walker_ " a jumbled ring of recognition, "He's back and _look_ who he's _dating_..." Lavi could taste the cruelty in his ex-boyfriend's voice. Why was he so attracted to him? And why was Tyki bad-mouthing Allen, of all people? Sure he didn't know much, if anything, about this place before he moved here but his companion couldn't have left because of harassment? Green eyes glanced over and in surprise widened, Allen didn't seemed put down by Tyki's tone. In fact, he seemed almost... _disappointed?_

"Let's go," The redhead stood up, pulling Allen along in the process and lead him through the crowd before finally out into the cold winter air. Exhaling slowly, Lavi turned suggesting in a weak voice: "let's get away from here,"


	3. Chapter 3

"So where did you to move to? If you don't mind me asking," Lavi hummed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his white jacket and his face closer to his scarf, before nudging his companion's shoulder playfully with his own.

"London,"

"That's awesome, but why London? It seems like a big move, did your dad get a new job or something?"

The dark aura that rose from his snowy-haired companion was the last thing Lavi expected, the sight caused him to physically jump away in shock before actually fearing for his life -if only for a moment.

When Allen did respond, the dark aura had only grown heavier: "My stupid guardian gambled away all of our savings and then some,"

"I-I see..."

Sighing, "Shortly after the debit collectors started showing up at our door, Cross decided it was time to move, which incidentally worked out well for me" the heavy dark aura surrounding Allen slowly dissipated.

"I assume because your break-up with Kanda," A nod was the only reply Lavi received before the redhead dove into his next question, "That's awesome, but wait why the hell did you come back to Japan?"

A fit of laughter broke past Allen's defenses, he had expected Lavi to ask him about his reason for visiting Japan, but the way the redhead had worded it had been too much.

"My uncle happens to still be living here so I'm only here for a visit," The young Brit replied, as they turned down a street Allen felt a tinge of nostalgia wash over him, extending his hand slightly in front of him, hoping to catch some of the flurries.

Green eyes caught sight of the slight movement, "Do you like the snow?"

"Strangely I have mixed feelings about it… I hate it because its cold and it doesn't always bring back the fondest of memories, but at the same time," a smile spreading across his pale features, "I love it because some of my best memories happened in the snow" Just as Allen finished his explanation, a snowflake fell into the palm of his hand before melting instantly.

"I guess that makes sense… Personally I can't stand it, people tend to be cruel in winter" The young Brit turned, watching as the redhead brought his gaze up towards the sky -his eyes shutting slowly- as he continued: "From pushing aside others as they pass them by to the anger that arises when the streets aren't clear, everyone shows their own form of ugly in the winter," Lavi's gaze dropped, meeting Allen's.

"Which is why I prefer summer," He added, a smile spreading across his features.

Before either of them could start a new line of questions, a voice shouted out to them from across the street. Two pairs of eyes glanced over at the source, a cop patrolling the streets was heading their way: "Hey you two, stay right there"

A blur of red then Allen felt himself being dragged away from the shouting cop, who was now giving to chase to the two. It took all of the young Brit's efforts to keep up with Lavi, who laughed before picking up his pace.

Allen did his best to recognize their surroundings as the redhead pulled him along, racing down corners and alleyways, one right after another. The longer they ran, the less Allen recognized where Lavi was taking them.

By the time Allen realized that he didn't recognize anything around them, he noticed his companion's pace had slowed. One last turn took them into alleyway, far enough away from the main street so they weren't easily visible by anyone passing by. Or looking for them.

Allen felt himself pressed against a slight indent in the alley with Lavi standing close enough to blend in with the darkness, but far enough that his breath wasn't brushing against his companion's cheek. If he closed his eyes, Allen was sure he could hear the faint footsteps of the cop who had been chasing them.

"Looks like we lost him," The redhead chuckled, winded from their wintry sprint, before stepping away: "So any ideas what we should do? Or should we just call it a night?"

Allen stiffened at the idea of staying out later, not that he wanted to get away from Lavi -the opposite really- but the young Brit sure didn't have enough stamina to outrun another cop: "We should probably call it a night," he replied, watching as hurt flickered behind Lavi's eyes before he quickly added: "I just don't want another run-in with a cop… we can still-"

A light laugh silenced his (failing) attempt to explain himself, the hurt in the redhead's eyes had been replaced with warmth as he chimed in: "Yeah, let's head back to the hotel then" grinning ear-to-ear.

Having no idea where he was, Allen followed Lavi as he headed back onto the main street before turning, the young Brit assumed, back the way they came. Their trek back was a little stiff at first, Allen would glance around hoping no cop would be running after them. It wasn't until the redhead laugh that his attention was drawn back to his companion: "You keep doing that your head will fall off,"

"Unlike you, I don't have the energy to keep running from cops…" Allen's eyes narrowed, a smile threatening to spread if he let down his guard.

"Then I guess when the next one comes, I'll just have to run away with you in my arms"

"W-WHAT?!" Their conversation halted as the soft crunches of someone running towards them in the snow.

Not wanting to risk it, Lavi immediately asked: "So do you want to take me up on that offer? Or can you do one more sprint?"

Feeling his face grow warm, Allen quickly muttered out that he could do one more sprint and before he knew it, he was being dragged along. The young Brit did his best to keep up, stumbling here and there until gravity decided to play a cruel trick.

A well-hidden patch of ice had both boys sliding, effectively losing their balance, before falling on top of one another. Allen, having smacked his head against something slightly firm, was the first to recover and immediately propped himself up. His hands against the cold snow on both sides of Lavi's head.

"Are you okay?" Allen knew he probably wasn't heavy enough to hurt his red-haired companion, but still: he had manners.

Dropping his hands to his side -when had Lavi wrapped them around him- the redhead peered up at his worried companion before grinning: "I'm fine, but how about you?"

"Idiot rabbit…" Allen lowered himself back down, a pout could easily be heard in his voice before a fist connected with Lavi's chest with barely enough force for the redhead to notice.

Raising his hands back up and around Allen, Lavi whispered: "Sorry, but I really am fine" receiving a short nod in response. Forcing the two of them up into a sitting position, the redhead waited for the young Brit to calm himself before suggesting that they finish their trip.


	4. Chapter 4

Deciding that between possibly getting caught walking around by another cop patrolling the streets or slipping on another patch of ice, the duo reluctantly agreed the former would be less painful. They had been walking for a while and Allen was beginning to recognize his surroundings again: "So what were doing at my hotel? I mean, I ran off before you so I doubt you could have followed me there… Right?" The young Brit asked as they turned down another street, fiddling with whatever item -Allen really couldn't figure out what the fuck it was- he had in his jacket pocket.

Lavi laughed, "Don't worry, I actually was on my way there… You see, my gramps is an author and prefers staying in high-end hotels when it gets close to his deadline. Personally I think he does it so his editor can't find him," explaining with a smug gleam shining in his green eyes.

"He must trust you a lot if he's told you where he was staying…" Allen muttered, his mind currently focused on figuring out what was in his pocket.

Again the redhead laughed, this time gaining Allen's full attention: "Actually he only does it because I tease his editor relentlessly by saying things like 'oh gramps is staying up in Osaka' or 'sorry this is a bad time, gramps has died-"

His companion's expression deadpanned, "Lavi, that's awful!" suddenly feeling very sorry for the poor editor who had been on the receiving end of the redhead's teasing.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Lavi groaned: "Yeah, that damn panda nearly kicked me through my bedroom wall when he found out I said that" dropping his head as the memory surfaced to the forefront of his mind.

"P-Panda…?" For a moment Allen was sure he misheard his companion, surely Lavi hadn't just referred to his grandpa as-

"Yeah," Lavi added in mock astonishment before his hands moved in conjunction with his words as he continued: "He's got _these_ huge _dark_ circles under his eyes that he resembles a panda… not too mention he's small. I'll introduce you two sometime…"

…of course, Allen wasn't really knowledgeable when it came to what was normal -or abnormal- for families.

"I-I see… Maybe when we get back then," His suggestion felt hollow as it rolled off his tongue. He had only planned on being in town for a few days to visit Neah and then he would be on his way back to the UK. There was no point in meeting Lavi's grandpa…

They continued walking through the snowy town until Allen noticed that the redhead had slowed down, almost to a complete stop. Stopping in his tracks, mercury eyes glanced back in concern but before he could ask if Lavi was okay, the redhead cleared his throat.

"Say Allen, do you think…" The tone of his companion's voice was enough for his heart to thud painfully in the Brit's chest, Allen waited on bated breaths for Lavi to continue but instead the redhead shook his head adding, "…never mind, forget it"

Again before Allen had a chance to speak, the redhead brushed past him stating that the hotel was only a few streets away. What was Lavi going to ask him? What did he think of what?

Of this town?

Of Kanda?

Of Tyki?

Of the fact neither of them were over their exes?

Of moving past the break-up?

Questions like these buzzed one right after another in Allen's head as they finished the last leg of their trek back to the hotel. The lobby was void people aside from the lady working at the front desk and a man taking care of the garbage. It wasn't until they had crossed the empty lobby and were waiting for the doors of the elevator to close that Lavi finally spoke up again: "Do you think if we had met each other before Tyki and Kanda… do you think things would have turned out differently?"

"What do you mean?" Something about the way the redhead had phased his question had Allen thinking that Lavi meant something other than the obvious. Of course things would have been different, neither of them would be dealing with crushing break-ups then pretending to be over their exes.

Lightly pressing the red 'stop' button on the wall, Lavi kept his gaze low: "Do you think we could have…" his words losing volume quickly until they completely died out.

Concern growing, Allen's throat tightened as he spoke: "Could have…?" hoping that pushing the issue would help get whatever was bothering the redhead off his chest.

Inhaling deeply, Lavi blurted out: "Do you think we could haven fallen in love instead of having our hearts broken by those two assholes?" something that the Brit wasn't expecting and had trouble collecting his thoughts afterward…

"Lavi, I-"

Not even the voice over the intercom asking if everything was okay could pull Allen's attention away when the redhead added softly, "I think I love you, Allen"

* * *

"I think I love you," Lavi's eyes widened at his sudden confession – why did he say that? Yes, he had been thinking it but was quick to remind himself that it was most likely misplaced. The redhead had only wanted to ask if the two of them had met under different circumstances, did his companion think they might have hit things off like they had tonight?

Mercury eyes widened as well, "What?" Allen stepped towards Lavi -the redhead pressed the red button again to start the elevator again, silencing the voice over the intercom- hoping that his response would make his companion look at him instead of the wall in front of him.

Instead the young Brit found a bright red had erupted across Lavi's cheeks, which in turn caused his own face to betray him. Pushing forward, Allen forced himself to ask: "How can you say that? We barely know each other and not to mention, the only reason we ended up together tonight was so we could both lie to our ex-boyfriends... and probably a little to ourselves,"

Somewhere in the middle of his panicky rant, his words began to lose strength and by the end, the snowy-haired teen was mumbling more to himself than to Lavi, whose attention had been driven away from the elevator walls and onto Allen.

Lavi cleared his throat, causing their eyes to meet and unable to pull away, before he whispered: "Look, you're right. We barely know each other, but for some fluke reason I know that you have exactly 42 freckles scattered across your cheeks. Don't ask me how?" His voice gaining strength as well as playfulness, "Though I'm pretty sure it was when we were hiding after being chased tonight by Officer Hard Ass. You have a scar above your right eyebrow from the time you fell off your bike when you were nine. You hate math because you don't like thinking that every problem has a solution. Can't say I blame you for that. You like staying up late and reading books unlike most of our generation. It's easy to make you laugh and pretty hard to make you cry. And I cannot even believe in the small amount of time I've known you that I've managed to do just that. You love storms because the sound of rain hitting your window makes you feel less alone. I know that... and because of all that, I am in love with you, Allen"

To say the snowy-haired teen was stunned would be an understatement, he felt frozen to the floor despite a part of him telling him to run away out of fear the moment the elevator doors opened. He watched as Lavi took his silence as a chance to let him continue, "I can't promise you that things will be great if you were to accept my feelings, but I can guarentee that I won't ever break your heart the way Kanda did. And I sure as hell won't break your heart like Tyki did mine..."

"What about your feelings for Tyki?"

The question came out low and the redhead could feel the suspicion underneath it, with a sigh Lavi replied: "When I left school this afternoon, I was still in love with him... When I dragged you along to that party, I was still in love with him... When I saw you talking to Kanda, I was still in love with him... When Tyki started trash-talking us, I was still pathetically in love with him... but when I saw that look in your eye I'm positive that was the moment, I fell for you"

Again Lavi was met with silence, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat the redhead lowered his voice, "I understand if you're still not over Kanda... but when you are, please think of me"

The elevator dinged, signaling they had reached the redhead's floor, and Lavi walked out of the confide space, leaving his companion to his thoughts. Lavi knew this would be the last time he saw Allen -not that he could blame him. They had not even twelve hours ago and yet, the redhead confessed something pathetic like that.

The redhead was so in-tuned to his thoughts that he didn't even notice that someone had exited the elevator and was running over to him. At least he was until that someone crashed into him, grabbing the back of his coat in an attempt to stop him in his tracks.

"Lavi," Allen paused as he thought over to the events of the night -sure he was surprised at how much fun he had had being with Lavi, how much he didn't sulk despite being in the same town as Kanda, and above all: how much of his thoughts had begun revolving around the redhead instead of the raven. Yes, it was painstakingly clear who occupied his thoughts. Did that mean that somewhere in their silly act, he had _actually_ gotten over Kanda? That somewhere in their lie, he had actually _developed_ feelings for Lavi? No, he still stood by the statement that they barely knew one another well enough to decide whether what they felt was love, like, or a sense of accomplishment for getting over their broken hearts. Still, the redhead deserved to know at least this much: "I'm over Kanda…"

Green eyes widened in awe and relief washed over his features as Lavi chuckled breathlessly, "Talk about good timing on my part then,"

Allen's hands dropped, allowing the redhead the freedom to turn around and face him, before he suggested: "Let's start over the right way this time,"

"Agreed"

Extending his hand out, "Hello, my name is Allen Walker. I used to live here, but moved away a year ago and my reason for coming back is to visit my uncle..."

Mimicking the other's actions, Lavi responded in the same manner: "Nice to meet you, Allen. I'm Lavi Bookman, surprisingly enough I moved here a year ago because of my gramp's new job"


End file.
